Monday, December 15, 2008

Disaster struck the fleegle household this week. Harry pranced in the door a few days ago with an iPodNano that he won cheating in a poker game. He then spent two days downloading the lyrics to his tunes--an ominous portent of things to come.

With astounding proficiency, he proceeded to jack the iPod into a pair of speakers only slightly smaller than Toad Suck, Arkansas. And in a final display of arachnid ingenuity, he added some tiny wheels to the Nano, turning it into the world's first MP3 skateboard.

The next day, our nearest neighbor (who lives a half a mile north of us) called the police, complaining that a brain-melting version of Irene Cara's Fame was blasting out of her poinsettia.

Fortunately, Roy and I had invested in sound-suppressing earphones minutes after we were introduced to Harry's karaoke machine. We never heard (a) the police hammering on our door or (b) the high-pitched yelps as they fled from the vision of a ten-inch break-dancing spider draped in Red Roxxearbuds, caroming around the dining room on a purple iPod.

And anyway, I was too busy finishing this sweater to bother about the noise.

The design is loosely based on the Feather and Fan Sweater in Gathering of Lace. The original reminded me pleasantly of a raspberry sundae, but I am past the days of wearing ice cream, so the first thing I changed were the colors. I didn't care for the shapeless bottom hemline, so I added a neat twisted ribbing. The sleeves of the original were way too long and wide for someone who cooks on a gas stove, so the shape was streamlined. And during the cuff redesign, some pearl beads wandered in.

By this time, I was having too much fun deviating from the original, so the feather and fan pattern itself was modified (didn't care for the purl ridges) and more beads were added around the neckline. Having been knitted with Blue Sky alpaca/silk. it's a luxuriously soft and warm confection.

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comments:

A most refined sweater of which the neckline reminds me of Japanese patterns...Harry should stick to his first specialty: knitting spider lace.Or he could take a course in bobbin lace and be seated on a cushion all day!

Really lovely! Looks like a Victorian top for ladies of means (ie able to wear whatever they want). I think one in all-black would suit my wardrobe quite well! By the way, which pattern is it in Gathering of Lace? I checked Ravelry and I don't see Feather and Fan Sweater as one of the patterns... Thanks!

Well, that is certainly a lovely holiday sweater, but will you be wearing it in the lock-up?? The cuffs look nicer without hand-cuffs covering up the wonderful lace-work, eh? Maybe for 2009 Harry will consider going up-plugged...